Jefferson, Hemings relatives gather for first time

Posted: Sunday, May 16, 1999

By DAVID REEDThe Associated Press

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Descendants of Thomas Jefferson and offspring of his slave Sally Hemings gathered at his plantation Saturday for the first time in 170 years and promised to stay close, whether or not they become official blood cousins.

"I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship," said James Truscott, a white descendant of Jefferson's daughter Maria and vice president of the Jefferson family's Monticello Association.

The association, made up of white Jefferson descendants, will debate at a private family meeting today whether to accept Hemings' progeny as their blood cousins, allowing them to be buried at the family cemetery at Monticello.

Jefferson, who became president in 1801, was accused publicly in 1802 of being the father of several of Sally Hemings' children. Scholars have differed since about whether to believe it.

A DNA study published in November said Jefferson may have fathered at least one of Hemings' children.

At a news conference Saturday evening at Monticello, Jefferson's Blue Ridge mountaintop home, association president Bob Gillespie said the group's executive committee voted earlier in the day to study the Hemings membership issue for as long as a year. Some in the reunion crowd of about 250 people groaned.

A few minutes later, Truscott's nephew, Lucian Truscott, was applauded loudly when he declared that the Hemings family should be acknowledged as true kin right away. He said he will press the issue at the family meeting.

After the news conference, descendants from both sides stood together for a group photo on Monticello's steps. Later, they dined together at a historic tavern about a mile down the mountain from Monticello.

"We're still going to be family, regardless of what the Monticello Association does," said Hemings descendant Shannon Lanier, 17, of Cincinnati. "We've always known it, since we were kids, that we were family."

"I believe this weekend is about an opportunity for individuals who share a common heritage -- and common ground at Monticello -- to come together and to get to know one another better," Jefferson Foundation President Dan Jordan told the families.

This was the first time the white and black descendants of Jefferson and Hemings gathered together at the founding father's plantation since Jan. 15, 1827, said Jordan, whose foundation runs Monticello.

On that day, sixth months after Jefferson died deeply in debt, 130 plantation slaves and other possessions were sold at auction. Shortly thereafter Sally Hemings and five members of the Hemings family were freed.

"My kids will be reading about this in the history books," said Hemings descendant Troy Harding, 17, of Chillicothe, Ohio, as he walked along Mulberry Row, where Jefferson's slaves once lived.

Lanier said the resemblances between the family members were remarkable.

"You see facial features in them, and say, hey, you look just like my aunt," Lanier said. "You can tell we're cousins."

They walked together beside Jefferson's bed, covered with a crimson rose bedspread. The went through the underground stone passageway to Sally Hemings' tiny bedroom.

Jordan said the Jefferson-Hemings relationship "is an American story," and Hemings descendant Shay Banks-Young, 54, of Columbus, Ohio, said it represents a chance to help heal race relations.

"It's important to begin mending bridges that broke down after generations and generations of slavery and segregation," she said.